What happened to player kicked off team?

A long time ago, The Herald ran a story about baseball that included a boys’ team coached by a woman.

That lady was Ruth Hyner Hough, daughter of Matthew Hyner, first postmaster of Edmonds. Her husband, Frank Hough, also played baseball and their son, Bob, who later became my brother-in-law, was the bat boy.

I was appalled and infuriated to read in that article that one of the boys, Jimmy Claxton, had been kicked off the team because it was discovered his ancestry included black people. How anyone could be so biased and mean-spirited as to deprive a kid of what must have been one of his few pleasures is beyond me.

The Herald had another baseball story on Feb. 21 about early day teams and players – Earl Averill and his son Earl Averill Jr., Earl Torgeson of Snohomish and Ryne Sandberg (“We’re talkin’ baseball”).

The last paragraph says that Jimmy Claxton played for the Oakland Oaks and was the only black player to play in a major league organization until Jackie Robinson.

I always wondered what happened to Claxton. Could this be the same person, or a relative?

At any rate, I would like to offer an apology to the Claxtons, wherever they are, for such hateful treatment. We’ve come a long way since then, but still have a long way to go.

LEE JOHNSON

Marysville